Anyone else got a garden going? This looks like it could be a good year but it's an odd one. Everything in my garden is coming at once  the cold weather crops like peas and lettuce along with the hot weather things like tomatoes and beans. BUT everything that's been on the vine or tree or plant for months is on hold.

Nothing is ripening and this is both maddening and intimidating. What will I do if everything comes ripe at once? I won't be able to keep up with picking it, let alone working it all into meals.

What are you gardeners out there finding in your areas? My garden is in the Los Angeles area. That's about a zone 9 or right on the cusp of a Sunset 18 or 19 (depending on which part of the yard we're talking about)._________________God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

Joined: 18 Oct 2004Posts: 1654Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound

Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 1:44 pm Post subject:

I had to say farewell to my nice big garden last summer, but have a little container garden. I have basil and thyme coming out of my ears. My tomato plants have never been stronger. I guess being in dirt instead of planted in sand makes a difference. My lavender is going crazy. I didn't even think it would survive the winter in containers.

R.I.P. Three Rosemary Bushes; I guess the rosemary hedge will just have to wait. Who knew they had to be pruned?_________________"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

Well, I planted my tomatoes weeks earlier than my earliest previous plantings. My plants are tall, bushy and full of flowers. BUT - it's been SOOOOO COLD here. We've had almost all foggy days through May and into June. Sunday & Monday it was sunny for a couple of hours in the PM. Today, I'm not sure we'll get even a couple of hours of sun! So - NOTHING is happening here either! I was so excited to think I might get a tomato in July, when I had flowers in late April, early May, but now I think it will be the usual ripe tomatoes in late September, early October!

Thank goodness for the Farmer's Market, or I'd be eating canned tomatoes all year long! I did buy some tasty, fragrant and lovely heirlooms from the Valley on Sunday! _________________L'appetit vient en mangeant. -Rabelais

Erin's in an apartment?! Did you make the move back to the West Coast?_________________God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

Joined: 18 Oct 2004Posts: 1654Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 1:35 pm Post subject:

Funny Grif. They make a nice fragrant accessory.

No, I'm not in an apartment, though I'd see where you'd think so, seeing as how I'm using containers and all. We had a nice 20sqft garden before, that I painstakingly turned myself, so when we moved I was not excited at the prospect of doing that again. Bad back you know. There is also the fact that we are moving again in 369 days, so I'd just have to leave it again.
As for the West Coast, I don't know if we are going to be sent back. The big boys up in Boston are making noises about bringing us up there, because Phil is some kind of computer Boy Wonder. As much as I want to be back with my people, I'd be okay with this. I'm in love with Boston and one of my best friends is a grad student at BC, so it would be alright._________________"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

Yes, Boston is a lovely city. I bet you'll both be really happy there. I hope you'll know soon so you can start feeling like you're moving ahead rather than in a holding pattern. And I hope you'll be able to have a little spot for raising a few things.

One day, tho, I hope you'll be able to come back to the NW or Vancouver.

Meanwhile, last night I picked us some dinner. The squash are all very tiny and immature but so much more tender for it. I wasn't really going to do that or I would have taken a basket out for picking or at least worn a T-shirt that had more attractive contrast. Being impulsive is a bitch...

That single green squash is a volunteer. I'm not exactly sure what shape the parent was because I don't think I've ever had one quite that shape before. Yummy tho. _________________God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

Actually, my second generation container garden is doing quite well. I started planting strawberries and tomatoes in March. The tomatoes (Sweet 100s and Romas) are doing well, but I'm barely keeping up with the recent heat wave that's threatening to dry out the fruit.

I started my first strawberry pot and I have a few strawberries popping out. A few have become casualties to my dog Guapo, who likes to pick green strawberries and throw them around like toys.

I've also started sowing seeds for container garden sized sunflowers and cilantro, basil and sage._________________"Help! Help! I'm being repressed!" --- Monty Python and the Holy Grail

My three tomato plants in containers are now in blossom (right on schedule in this part of the north).

Growing tomatoes from seed is one of my favorite things to do -- and I haven't grown them for many years, for an assortment of reasons. So having three flourishing tomato plants on my porch is a real thrill.

I love everything about growing tomatoes -- the tiny seeds; transplanting them deep, deep, so the stem will grow more roots; their fuzzy stems and leaves, the pungent odor of the plants. Fresh tomatoes to eat are a bonus extra after all that joy.

Well, I just planted 5 window boxes with a mix of flowers and herbs. Hopefully they will do well for me.

I found some vibrant red and fuschia pink geraniums, and bright red pelargoniums. In between is a miniature rose bush, verveine, mint, rosemary, ruin of rome, and a bulb of inderterminate parentage... it is my "surprise" for next season.

Just one or two more boxes to put outside the bedroom window and I will be finished. Thinking of more lemony scents like a lemon verbena and geranium for there._________________If you cannot feel your arteries hardening, eat more cheese. If you can, drink more red wine. Diet is just "die" with a "t" on the end. Exercise is walking into the kitchen.